


Burn The Witch

by IfMulderCouldSeeMeNow



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, short piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 07:56:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4093081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IfMulderCouldSeeMeNow/pseuds/IfMulderCouldSeeMeNow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bedelia uses long baths to contemplate her crimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn The Witch

Bedelia slips into the bathtub, her only true requirement for a home. The water is scalding, and her skin immediately begins to spread with red-tinged blotches up her ankles and calves. Holding both edges, she settles into the tub with a deep hiss, the clear water soon becoming blood tinged. Unlike the cleansing of the sins approach her _partner_ favors, her skin will never come clean. Instead, each will soak into her skin, serving as a permanent reminder of her recklessness of her _control._

Soaking in the red water, she takes the white clothe and lathers it with honeysuckle soap, slowly dragging it across the blood on her body where Mrs. Kitner remains.

She is not Hannibal’s prisoner physically, but he will always have pieces of her mind, just as Bedelia owns pieces of his. He released something that she can never fully reign in and in a moment of foolishness, she asked for his help, forgetting that this was his design. It has escaped from her mind through the excited beating of her heart and the dilation of her pupils and Bedelia knows she has no hope of locking it up again with staunch morality and professionalism.

Her hair is crusted and weighed down, places of the blonde mane almost looking as if she has red-tinted highlights. She closes her eyes and finally sees her true self; what she has become. Her entire body is black, but her hair remains blonde, almost angelic looking.

She is a murderer and her morality has begun to shrivel, similar to the Doctorate from Harvard that she lit aflame many months ago. Slowly the corners of the parchment curled, blackened, and spread to the rest of the document, suffocating her name and promises to the psychiatry profession. Soon, there will be nothing left of her morality but promises that it had once existed. 

Bedelia dips her entire body under the water, and holds her breath. She’s reminded of countless courses in anthropology and ‘trials by ordeal.’ Her body sinks deeper into the dark blue abyss, and she lets it, hoping for vindication from her unconscious. Air begins to burst from her chest and she rises to the top in an instant, her head bobbing just below the surface as if to mock her ridiculous pleadings of innocence and simple _observation_. She emerges from the water with a gasp, her chest heaving, lips beginning to darken. “WITCH,” they would scream as they dragged her to be burned, had this been a true trial by ordeal.

Bedelia wonders if the same principle applies to demons. 

**Author's Note:**

> I like to toy with the idea that Bedelia simultaneously considers herself a victim and a murderer. I'm extremely interested in seeing how her story arc will continue as her morality mixes with the realization that she is a willing participant. I think she actually likes to kill and it makes her sick, as it blatantly goes against her medicinal code to do no harm. Okay, now I'm babbling.


End file.
